253: Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

SPEAKER_04 0:04

You know some people aren't into butt play, but they don't know what they're missing.

SPEAKER_05 0:12

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to the new year with Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Come and get it, you undead sack of shit. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack. A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_05 0:31

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your Philly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I'll loop my own crankshot from now on.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

A cowardloo Cooper Ryan. In the end, does anything really matter? The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

He was after my soul. Now you can get that out of any major orifice of a person's body. I read about it.

SPEAKER_05 0:57

And the paranormal paramour Binks. Let's get decadent. This week we're kicking off 2023 with a film that features Elvis Presley squaring off with an ancient mummy. Before we get all shook up, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Let's follow up on some stuff. During our 2022 recap episode, we set a goal for hosting our very first live podcast meetup later this year to commemorate our sixth anniversary and 300th episode. We're kicking off our planning, but we need your help to get us going in the right direction. Visit links.hackerslash.hackerslash dot live slash 2023 meetup. And it's also listed down in our show notes for the episode.

SPEAKER_05 1:43

I also want to point out right now that Salem, Massachusetts is leading by a wide margin, which is exciting.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

As it should be.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

Which is also not somewhere I want to go. Wow, did you complete the survey?

SPEAKER_04 1:55

No. I'm just saying it's not I don't think it's my decision, right? I'm gonna be there regardless. I have to show up. But uh, you know, can we get some better options? Can I get somewhere warm?

SPEAKER_05 2:05

Okay. I want to point out that Miami is an option, but no one's voting for Miami.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

Can we get some more votes? I guess is the point.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Well, we'll see. Now, wise men see.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

We should thank our new patrons, David and Tom. Thank you. Welcome to the Hackerslash Fam.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

Did you have a drink?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

No, but I did have some Coca-Cola at the end of a long day, so that'll do it. Oh, yeah. I'll do it. Nice.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

David, Tom, welcome to the family. We're so stoked to have you, and I am even more stoked to see you uh continue to join us in our Discord and enjoy the conversations about these movies.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Yes, welcome. That's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_05 2:39

Well, last week we covered the oldest film we've seen yet on the podcast, The Mummy from 1932. When author Joe R. Lansdale first saw that movie, he pondered what the mummy imotep would be called were he to be found in his stomping grounds of East Texas. From there, an idea for a story was born, and an alternate history novella was published in 1994, which featured Elvis swapping places with an impersonator before his alleged death in the 70s. Eight years after the novella's publication, 32 prints of Don Coscarelli's film adaptation of that book made a limited platform release. In both Lansdale and Coscarelli's stories, Elvis is spending the remainder of his life in a retirement home where he befriends a man who's convinced he's John F. Kennedy. Together they attempt to thwart an Egyptian mummy that's preying on the souls of their fellow retirees. This week we're talking about Bubbaho tip. Who's seen this one before? Why would anyone have seen this before?

SPEAKER_04 3:34

I can't think of a reason anyone would watch this. Mac has seen this before.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, so I've seen this before, and I actually saw it close to its release. Not like obviously the day after or anything, but uh I believe I saw it on DVD, so only like a couple years, might have been VHS, I don't know. But a couple of years after this actually came out, I did watch this, and this was memorable, and I suggested it to Chris.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

You sure did. Would you like to explain why you were watching this in 2002?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

I would love to explain why I would have watched this because one of my favorite movies growing up was Army of Darkness, which is number three in the Evil Dead trilogy. And I was, for whatever reason, just enamored with Bruce Campbell. Like such a cool dude, loved the performance in Army of Darkness, and has done so many B movies. So yeah, when this like came across my vision, I was like, What? Elvis, Bruce Campbell, Mummy? I gotta watch it. And of course, at the time I was like, you know, in my early adulthood, so I was open to anything zany.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

To be clear, have you seen how handsome that man was? Even I am enamored by Bruce Campbell.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Rightly so.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

Yeah, I agree. I think I saw this, I feel like I watched this also very close to its release with one of my best friends growing up, and we were really into the Evil Dead franchise. So if if something was coming out with Bruce Campbell, then I was likely to have watched it at that time for sure. That being said, I didn't retain anything about this movie at all.

SPEAKER_08 5:02

I just want to say I love how the men in this podcast are the ones that have seen this movie, I think, because I certainly have not seen this movie before. And I think I already have not retained the movie already. So I can I can see that, Sean. I can see that.

SPEAKER_05 5:17

Fascinating. I have never seen this movie before. I actually only came to know of it after Mac recommended it to me, especially when we're looking and thinking about okay, how we want to kick off the year, what's something we haven't done in a while. We think about a horror comedy of this nature. And and let me just say this. First and foremost, I am a huge Elvis fan. Second, I really enjoy Bruce Campbell. Third, I spent a great deal of time in my childhood in East Texas. And fourth, I am spiritually a 90-year-old grandfather. So I feel like I should be the target audience for this movie, and I had expectations of enjoying it when I really sunk my teeth into it.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

You know, it's it's been a long time since I watched it. It's been since probably the early to mid-2000s, and I I think you know, two decades is long enough for some movies to really age like milk. So the way the jokes and deliberate corniness kind of happen in this movie, I was really worried that they might have faded. I didn't expect a complete flop, but I was worried I just might get turned off by some of the stuff that was super 2002.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

I just want to be clear. Regardless of my previous statement, I was actually expecting to enjoy this. I just uh of course had never, you know, heard of it or anything. And I think it's one of those things where I have a very personal bias also towards Elvis. I love Elvis, so I I knew it would be bad. Okay, let's be real. I knew it would be bad. It's a horror comedy. Never met one that I've not thought was bad on some degree. Tucker and Dale versus Evil. Which you say every time, and I would argue I still did not love as much as other people, so still maybe a little bad. You know, it wasn't my favorite thing, it's just not my jam. So I didn't expect to to love it, but I did expect to love the Elvis parts of it.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

That's fair. That's fair. So knowing what Bruce Campbell is all about, right? I was expecting for this to have some silly, campy humor to it for sure, um, because that's just what he does. I actually didn't read the synopsis ahead of time. I didn't watch any trailers to refresh my memory going into the movie, so I was really going with very little expectations aside from expecting the film to be a purposefully campy and funny horror film. So that's really all I was going and expecting.

SPEAKER_08 7:28

Yeah, I think that's my thing. I I it was very evident that this was like a B movie for sure with Bruce Campbell. So I think that set the tone in terms of like what I was kind of walking into to some extent. But I mean, that being said, I was expecting this to be giving a little flop. I'm not gonna front. I but I I still like to go into these things with an open mind. I just spected a lot of like, like you were saying, Mac, 2000s humor. I just was not prepared for how much that was going to be.

SPEAKER_05 8:00

Yeah. I think the one thing that did not work in this movie's favor for me was knowing that it was made by Don Coscarelli. And not any shade against him, because I think like the little bit I had seen from like clips of the movie or still images from the movie, it felt like it was gonna be very different than what we previously covered of his on the podcast, which was Phantasm. And Phantasm was a movie that I felt like only 12-year-old boys could like. And you know what? I still, and again, I was wrong, obviously, like we had more than that on our show who enjoyed that movie. I know Alexis loved it, but it just felt like such a movie that hits for such a certain demographic of people, and then completely not for myself and and I know others that I I know and love. So I expected this to A, be campy, B, be funny, but also C, maybe to be a little bit different than what I would typically get out of a parody. And I'll say that watching this movie, there was a lot of some Elvis bits that I enjoyed, but there was also a lot of time that I just felt nothing at all. Which, you know, you don't really want when you're watching like a comedy, like a like a horror comedy in particular. I found myself a little bored. Maybe also I was a little bit dejected because it starts out with such gross talk from an old man that I could not be less interested in hearing more from that.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

You know, you you mentioned that while you were watching it to me, and I was like, uh, I need to I need to start my rewatch soon so I could really comment with you. But I mean, it's gross. It's gross for sure. You know, when when watching this, I didn't realize, I forgot how much unnecessary old guy dick humor was in it. I mean, I still found the story entertaining and the characters incredibly quirky and quirky enough to pay attention to, but yeah, there was a lot where just it was like a grimace during several several moments of the film.

SPEAKER_08 9:46

Yeah, I think that's what it is, right? It's like the the raunchiness right at the jump kind of already had me like, oh, all right. The any expectations I had very belittled at that point. And it's not that I'm not a fan of raunchiness, right? Like I can take it to some extent, but wow, they dial it up to 5,000. So I just felt like the entire time that I was watching the movie, I was very disinterested. There were parts that had me feeling like I was watching a South Park episode, and that I did enjoy, because I do like South Park, and that's where like maybe the raunchiness I can maybe sometimes buy into every now and then. Um, but overall, I was just feeling like, oh wow, this is this is a movie that is just not catered for me. And that's also like obviously, Chris and Ryan, you guys are massive fans of Elvis. I'm it's not that I'm not a fan of Elvis, I just don't know much about him, nor really like I never grew up around him and that kind of thing as well. So I feel like that wasn't really helping the case. So yeah, it was a little unfortunate on that front.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

This is so funny to me that you guys are saying it was like turned up to like level 10 raunchiness, because I feel like compared to two things, one, compared to the raunchiness that we get now, and compared to the way old vulgar humor usually ages so poorly. Like, I don't feel like this is out of 10 for compared to either of those things, but I understand where you're coming from. And the beginning of this movie, like the first line that that Elvis has, it reminded me of this specific song. And you'll have to forgive me on this, but years ago, Kanye released this beautiful song. Okay. The beginning, it has a nice beat. It's got it it starts so good. It's it starts with some good vibes. It's it's Father Stretch My Hands, part one. And then literally the first song, he talks about someone's bleached butthole, like the first line. So it's like, hey man, that was gonna be a really cool song until you just started talking about buttholes. And that's kind of how this movie feels. Like immediately, you're like, hey man, I was gonna listen to you be Elvis, but like now you're talking about dicks for no reason. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 11:55

Genuinely, and I think for me it's that I don't dig old man humor, I don't dig perverted old man humor. I and I really enjoy Bruce Campbell, and I think he actually makes a terrific Elvis. I did not ever want to hear pus or dick come from him.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Ever. Okay. I don't think you're wrong, but I will say there is some bit of raunchiness that I felt like we were promised in this movie that we didn't actually get, and it's like on my list of disappointments. You know, I I feel like I can't really spoil that right now, but there's some bits of it where I was actually kind of like in a rare occurrence where I was into the raunchiness at some specific points. Now I'm remembering that you are in fact into old men, so I should have expected that. Oh I'm not into creepy old men, but I am into old man humor.

SPEAKER_08 12:43

You you stopped at old men, and I was like, Mike drop, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

You know, I can I can see where you all are coming from, right? Like I can see like the humor in the film you you kind of have to be in the mood for, in a sense, right? Um, I do think the humor in the film and the delivery from Bruce Campbell and Aussie, I think that was really um entertaining at times. I don't necessarily think that the dick jokes and the things in the very beginning were the best. I don't think it was the most offensive or the worst thing in the world. You it's just a thing that I feel like those types of movies coming out around that time was it was just a vibe. It was just it was just maybe a vibe for a specific type of people that were into it. I don't know. But uh that being said, uh one of the first feelings that I had was going through that scene that you're talking about, Chris, and and everyone, like that that feeling was damn, I sure hope this is gonna be a good fun camp and not just another terrible film that I have to sit through and try to like count down the minutes, right? Like I hope it's going to evolve from this, right? You know, that was the thing. And then Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell. So, you know, I don't think this is anything like his work in the Evil Dead franchise, but you can see some of that coming out, and I think that really is what made those parts entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I will say though, that in Ash vs. Evil Dead, he does make a reference to having too many cold sores for his his character does. So like it it appears that they tend to tie that type of humor to him for for whatever reason. Maybe, maybe he brings some of it, maybe maybe it's just something that they like having him say, but like it apparently comes up fairly often with his with his characters.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

That's interesting. Maybe it's just a fun thing for fans just to link movies together.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

It's the uh Bruce Campbell cinematic universe.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

Not the six degrees of Bruce Campbell's illnesses and sores.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Cold sores.

SPEAKER_05 14:45

What growths does he have and what character? It's uncomfortable. I think one of the biggest things for me though was you know, in in looking at what this movie could have been, and even looking at how solid Bruce Campbell is as Elvis. You know, when Mac first told me about this movie, and it was like an Elvis impersonator is in a retirement home. I obviously didn't know the extent to which all that plays. I wasn't sure how straight they were gonna play that the whole time. And I think I was really surprised by how great he was as like a as an old-looking Elvis, but then the consistency of his vocal delivery, um, I think the hilarity of that. But then I think what disappoints me about this movie is how much nothing else seems to rise to him and Jack. I feel like he and Jack were like the standouts in this movie for me in terms of like a dynamic duo, but everything else, and again, maybe it's appropriate, it's a retirement home, but it just feels so slow and anticlimactic, and it doesn't feel like huge danger. It almost, I don't know, it it's I was never really worried about anything. And I think that's a disappointing element for me.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Yeah, and I agree, I agree with you. So surprisingly, there were a lot of really great ideas in the film. There was a lot of really great things going on. Um, but the disappointing part was just like the delivery of how they wrapped the story together or told the story. Um, just kind of that was it was that was the disappointing part to me. I agree. I enjoyed the comedic dialogue between, you know, Elvis and Jack throughout the nursing home, but that in and of itself was maybe better than everything else in the movie. And I just wanted to just I could have just I could have just sat there just watching them in one room, just talking back and forth the whole hour and a half.

SPEAKER_08 16:36

Yeah, I I also agree. That was kind of just the most disappointing part of it all, is that I felt like there was no real threat when there clearly was one. I was never like worried in any sense, like you were saying, Chris. Um, it kind of felt like this could have been a an interesting movie of just the two of them sitting in a room, one of those short films. I don't know. There was also just felt like a lack of action considering there was supposed to be a threat. Overall, a little more lackluster than I had hoped.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

Yeah, you guys are definitely on to something. I I do have to say, uh my biggest surprise here was that we were watching a movie about an impersonator of an impersonator, like an Elvis impersonation impersonation. I was not prepared for that. I knew we were going into some Elvis nonsense, but I was not planning for this man to impersonate an impersonator and be an impersonation of himself. Like what?

SPEAKER_03 17:27

It's like the inception of impersonations.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

That's part of the quirkiness of the characters. You know, I uh thinking back to before I got to watch this again, I forgot one about Jack. And so that was a pleasant surprise because as soon as he came on screen, I was like, oh crap, I completely in my mind blanked out about this fantastic character. Like, absolutely so much fun to watch on screen for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

You told me about him. How did you forget that quickly?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah, so when I when I hit play, like I forgot a lot of the details, you know. I mean, I even forgot what the mummy looked like in the movie. And so when I saw that, I was just like, I can't believe that in such a short period of time it just completely disappeared. Now, I will say, to be fair, I've done a lot of traveling recently and have had very little sleep. So that could be part of why not everything's all together. So let's just, you know, take that with a grain of salt, if you will. But um, I'll say I was a little bit disappointed, like you said, in the crassness of the first part of the film. Um there's this there's a scene in which Elvis is making some pretty crude remarks about, you know, a a girl who's coming to collect the belongings of her deceased elderly father, and it like really focuses on him being really gross towards her in his mind, at least. Obviously the dick jokes are pretty gross. We get some back and forth between the Elvis character and and um and his, I don't know, his nurse, I guess. And I know that's like part of part of the shtick. And nobody does shtick like Bruce Campbell. That's it's like very deliberate and very well delivered. So it's it's hard to separate the two because it's like, man, that's delivered so well. It's just really crass.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

So yeah, I think the quirkiness is what I is what I really forgot about, like how quirky it is and how fun that makes it. But at the same time, it's just like, uh, would I feel comfortable showing this to kids? Definitely not. Would I feel comfortable watching this in in mixed company? Like, maybe not as well. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 19:13

I think you could watch it with someone who is again a a very early entry into horror. Honestly, I would consider this so far down the list of horror movies. I know that we've had some questionable ones in the last couple years. I think this is the least horror movie we've done in a long time because it feels more comedy. And it's only I feel like it's only horror in uh in in honor of the original 1932 mummy. There isn't a a damn thing even remotely threatening about this movie. Uh, but that being said, I mean, I think it never really tries to be. I think it's one of those where like there's nothing in here that's so gross-looking that you wouldn't be able to watch it with someone who has like a squ like a squeamish stomach, yeah, who doesn't have like a lot of uh willpower to get through things that are like particularly gory. I think the mummy design is is cool, and but I don't think it's it's a a stretch for anyone. You know what I mean? Like I feel like if you want someone to get someone into the genre and they like shit like this, this is right up that alley.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

I mean, I definitely agree that this isn't like this is definitely not like super horror-y, and you know, it doesn't have like any there's nothing to be afraid of, there's nothing to be concerned about. But at the same time, I really don't feel like this is that raunchy, like what y'all are saying. Like, I would not be ashamed to of the things that y'all have made me watch, this is the one of the least ones that I would be concerned of someone seeing me watching. Like, I mean, I'm no no no no. You could like watch this on an airplane and you would not have to be concerned about people staring at your screen. This is not, I mean, obviously, most of the raunchiness that we're talking about are lines, but I'm just saying, like, we say some crazy stuff, bruh. This is like not even, I feel like it's not that far, but I don't know. Maybe I'm soft on Elvis. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

Okay, so you think about X and that whole episode where we talked about how we don't want to see old people doing their nasty. This movie talks about old people doing the nasty, and I don't want it in the theater of the mind either. I don't want to hear about it. You know what I mean? Only vaguely.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

Only vaguely. The only thing is I don't need to hear about the pus. Okay, I'm good on that because I'm not really one for like a gross humor.

SPEAKER_05 21:27

No part of it.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

But other than that, like, you know, he's just a sad boy.

SPEAKER_08 21:31

A sad boy?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Not a sad boy. What? Yeah, I mean, if you if you're talking about like the horror here is really like if you're scared of hearing about old age penile cancer and and sores on the tip of a penis, that's that's where the terror here comes in. Uh, thankfully, there's nothing on screen for us to to look at. Thank, thank goodness. But um, yeah, I mean, it's it's gross because like you you're hearing about it, and it's like when old people tell you about their ailments. You know, like, oh, I had this thing with my heart. You're like, oh my gosh, that's so sad. But if somebody's like, yeah, I had this boil on my ass, you know, you don't you're like, nah, man, I don't want to know. Like, don't and that's kind of what you feel in those moments. It's like, no, don't, don't keep going. Don't keep going. Oh, and you've and you've okay, perfect. I'm gonna stop eating now. That's that's kind of what those moments feel like.

SPEAKER_08 22:18

But I think that's the issue to some extent, right? Because I'm at the point where I'm like, uh, you know, you've taken it so far, just take it there. And that's where I would agree with you, Ryan, where like it's that we don't really see a visual of these things, and I'm and I'm almost like, just do it already. Just just go there. Just take it there. Just fully commit to the bit.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

Let's just see it.

SPEAKER_08 22:38

Just just see it. Because if I hear the word pus one more time, I'm going to literally lose it. So I just might as well see it, right? I I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

I kind of feel the same way. I'd rather just go for it.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Uh so you want like a you want a boogie nights moment? Is that what you want here? Full visual.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Oh boy. The film definitely, I I feel like, and we've probably we've been saying this, right? I feel like to Chris's point, even it, the campiness of it all just outweighed any scariness. And even if they were even trying to be scary, I don't know. But it definitely outweighed any any fright factor that this film had. And I think you even touched on it, Mac. Like, was this a horror film, or was this really about the horrors of getting old and dying in a nursing home?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yeah, we actually got some like serious thoughts in the film about getting old and being left alone. And and Ryan's right, it is kind of a sad boy moment when we get those thoughts, and you're like, ah crap, this is kind of how we treat the elderly in our in our culture. And that's and that's that's really sad. It is sad. But uh, I mean, for this film, you know, the mummy from 1932 meets celebrity conspiracy theories in the middle of nowhere, Texas retirement home. We've all seen that before, right? That's been done.

SPEAKER_08 23:49

Totally, extremely. So many.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

This one's really hard because I don't know like what we're even what is the part that we're commenting on the originality of, right? Is it the impersonator? Is it the horror bit? Because the horror bit doesn't feel original at all. Like, I don't know. It's just such a weird mash of things that I don't even know where to go with originality.

SPEAKER_05 24:08

It is the sum of the parts for me, and it feels very different.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

I I have to give this this one some originality points, right? Just because the way that they piece everything together, you know, I haven't really seen anything like that before. You know, we've we've seen mummies coming back from to life, right? We've seen all of that before, but and we've seen Elvis themed movies, we've seen Elvis impersonators, we've seen all of that, but have we seen an Elvis impersonator and a mummy together? No. So I get it, you've got to give it some originality points there. In theory, it was an interesting idea, so I'll give it that. Uh, it just didn't come together the right way. The campiness overshadowed the plot and almost outweighed the film, but um, you know, I I do give it some originality points for the thought process behind it and what they tried to do.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

Some might say there's a reason we've never seen these things together. There's a reason this combination hasn't been there.

SPEAKER_08 25:05

Yeah, and I think that's why I to Chris's earlier point, like to me, it's just the sum of these insane parts that you just never would have expected that I guess lends me to think that it is original to some extent, because ultimately at the end of the day, with a plot like this, I mean it's a complete shit show. And how could I not think that it's original to some extent? It feels like, you know, he just grabbed random things from a jar and just threw them on the wall, and whatever stuck made this movie. It might it and it works to some extent, you know. It it works to some extent. I mean, down to even the lore of the mummy is so bonkers, to be quite frank, that it's like, I have to. I have to I have to give originality points.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

Okay, so you you talked about taking random parts, throwing it together, hoping it sticks, and that's how I felt watching Phantasm by Don Coscarelli. I will also say that in that movie, one of the things that drove me crazy, and like now the impression that I have of Don Coscarelli is how much I disliked the ending of Phantasm. And I will say I feel like he's done a lot of growing up since then. This had a conclusive ending. Was it fantastic by any means? No. I think my boredom kind of carried through a lot of this movie. Uh, I do think it it ends on a semi-satisfying note, though, and it feels much more conclusive and concrete than what I've seen from him previously.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Yeah, I mean, this this ending is kind of like the rest of the movie. It's simple, right? So I think part of the boredom comes from the fact that there's there's not necessarily a ton going on, right? It's a fairly straightforward story. It's executed in some interesting ways throughout and some less interesting ways throughout. But I think the ending here is like you said, it's concrete, it's done. I found it to be kind of a satisfying ending as well. I think we have stuff happen to the characters that whether or not we wanted to, like it happens and it's and it's interesting, and you feel things for the characters, or maybe you don't. I don't know. But I I I think I did, especially one of the characters. And so yeah, I liked it. You know, I think it wraps it up, it keeps it straightforward, and it doesn't get too silly with it. It doesn't set it up for a sequel or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Yeah, I I agree. The the ending, when you look at it as did they bring everything together, did they tie all the loose ends? Did it did it give you that satisfaction of we saw the end result? Yes, we did. I'll give it credit. Uh, it did it did do a good job bringing everything to an end. I wasn't mad at it by any means. Um, you know, was it as good and I'm probably gonna talk about this the whole rest of the show, but was it as good as Elvis and Jack just rummaging around the retirement home, sharing stories and stuff like that? No. But uh it it was uh it was a successful ending when you think of how it came together, the delivery and uh and not leaving any cliffhangers or loose ends or anything that seemed to be questionable.

SPEAKER_08 27:54

Yeah, I think that in the ending I found myself resonating with the comedy or even the dialogue as well. Like I think if anything, of all the movie, the ending to me was what landed the most um because it does kind of conclude and it's not like extreme, it's it's not um trying to overcompensate or do something so extravagantly insane like it has been doing the entire movie. But I really like some of the the pieces where it's not just the dialogue, but the comedy's actually delivered in other ways through physical acting and whatnot, and like choices that were made with you know certain props and stuff. So I don't know. I I I kind of enjoyed it, but when it comes to the plot, right, like you know, it it was a good one, right? I don't know. Expectations were low. So there's that.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Yeah, I think my feelings about the end are kind of just it ended. I mean, that's like the it successfully ended. I I wasn't mad about where it went. Uh, you know how Chris you were saying, like there's some parts where you ended up just kind of feeling like you weren't feeling anything. That's kind of how I felt in the end, and I think it has to do with the fact that there wasn't enough threat the whole way through for me to care about how it wrapped up, I think.

SPEAKER_05 29:06

It sounds like some of us had some feelings, some of some of us uh didn't feel much of anything at all, but let's consider how those feelings or lack thereof impact our ratings. Now, before we actually score this movie, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Overall, you don't get much in this film. The film is rated R, and probably just for the language and the brief nudity throughout the film. Uh, that being said, you do see some blood, but overall, I would have to give this film a very low gore score.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

And what about the animal report? I pr I feel pretty confident giving this a a good animal report, like everything was okay. You know, there's some some things happen to living creatures, but we're good.

SPEAKER_05 29:44

Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Bubba Hotep from 2002. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Well, this this movie was right up my alley back in the early 2000s. It was really made, I think, for a teenager or younger adult male, most likely, right? That's the target audience here. It's got Bruce Campbell, Canopy Horror, Elvis, because who doesn't love the king, and a simple yet remarkably quirky plot, I think. Uh, two decades later, I I still find it equally ridiculous, but entertaining and fun to watch. Bruce Campbell is the king in his own way. He's the king of B movies. And once again, he delivers a goofy, gross, buffoon of a character. In all the best and all the worst ways. Elderly Elvis and Black Jack are a fantastic duo, I think. And by the end, I realized I was kind of bummed. This was just a movie and there weren't more episodes to keep watching. Because, like you said, Sean, the banter between them was honestly the best part of the movie. It's a slash.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

Okay, so you make a great point. I could see this being a series rather than a movie, and it's kind of a weird one because I just feel like nothing happened in the movie, but at the same time, I enjoyed it. Which, yeah, like some episodes of uh of a series, you just gotta kind of get to know and love the characters, and maybe not the most is gonna happen. And that it does kind of feel like what happened here. This is probably one of the more enjoyable, really sucky movies I've ever seen. And again, I realize that like a good portion of this is my own Elvis bias. I'm not gonna hold you. This is not a good movie, but I'm giving it a slash. Just because y'all try to act like I'm no fun, I kind of enjoyed it. I don't know, it was fine. I didn't care about the story at all. Like the story meant nothing to me. But the camp, I was here for it. The corny cheesiness, I was here for it.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

You just slashed camp. You got camp. You made everyone proud. You finally got camp.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

You finally got there.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

It only works sometimes. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Yeah, so Chris, this is this is what I was talking about is that there's a large amount of people out there that really had a good time with this film. And here's the thing, right? As I mentioned before, the the film has a decent story and theory. It has some great ideas thrown in there, but it it just wasn't put together cohesively, and sadly the bad kind of outweighed the good here. I had a tough time because I love Bruce Campbell, I love campy horror, but I love campy horror, and this was just campy and no horror. So you put Bruce Campbell and Campy Horror in an undead backdrop with Evil Dead and things like that. I'm I'm all there, I'm all over it, right? You put it in a movie that has, I don't even if you I don't even know if you can call it an antagonist, uh, just maybe like uh uh we'll talk about it later. You know, the dialogue had its moments, but the dialogue was better than the rest of the movie, and that wasn't meant to be the meat and potatoes of the film. So when we're talking about, you know, we loved the humor and we loved the camp, but the story was whatever, and I was bored at some parts, but I had a good time still. Did I find myself laughing at times? Yes. Yet I still didn't feel fully entertained, and for that I have to give this film a hack.

SPEAKER_08 32:52

I just took a deep breath because for five seconds I thought I was gonna be a lone ranger on this on this train or on this on this wild, wild west of East Texas. My goodness, let me just take a beat because wow, okay. Look, I I think we can kind of gather what where I'm going with this for my scoring based on what I've discussed and shared. I know that at the end of the day, this movie wasn't really uh meant or catered for me, but at the same time, you've got to go into movies, especially us and what we do, like with an open mind, knowing that you have to like critically, you know, take a look at these movies and think it's not if it's not meant for you, doesn't mean it's automatically a hack or a slash, right? Or vice versa, right? So I went into this with an open mind, but at the very least, expecting certain things, certain elements, you know, the humor for to land. And if it was going to be raunchy humor, I was at least expecting some like grossness, you know, visually as well. Didn't necessarily feel that either or see that. So I just feel like the disappointments were just rolling in moment after moment. Yes, there were some parts that I enjoyed. I liked the duo, um, like you shared, Mac, and I liked some of the humor, did land with me, but it just wasn't fulfilling enough. And at the end of the day, I felt like I was just sitting and watching and waiting for the moment to for it to end. And granted, I am like I shared, I'm not an Elvis aficionado like the two of you are. So maybe there is a little bit of bias on that too, right? But I just think it was ridiculous and raunchy and a big what the fuck, um, but not in a way that I would typically enjoy it. So unfortunately, for all of those, you know, 2002 young teenage men that uh might be a fan of this movie, unfortunately for me, it's a hack.

SPEAKER_05 34:41

Well, this is uh not going the way that I expected this at all. Let me uh just come in here to say that when I was texting Mac about this movie, and he said that he didn't remember a lot of it, I thought Mac was about to pull a Ryan and 13 Ghosts and nominate a movie just to hack it. I really thought that was gonna be the path tonight. And look, I you know, Banks, you know, you talked about uh not being like an Elvis aficionado. Ryan, you love Elvis, you have a bias towards it. I also love Elvis. Uh, and let me just say that there are a couple songs by Elvis that I think perfectly sum up my feelings about this movie. Don't is one. Heartbreak Hotel. And uh it hurts me. Because what the fuck? On paper, this should have been right up my alley, and yeah, I felt almost nothing besides being grossed out, and that is so disappointing. I I had this like moment when we're talking about originality, when we talked about the success of the ending. There's a great deal of time where you know Elvis is sitting in a bed talking about basically how impotent he is, and how he's not even like perceived as threatening or capable in any way. And I thought, is that the meta of this movie? Is this movie also as impotent as he is? Is that the whole is that the whole point of it? Are our feelings of being so bored and drawn out in this process, was that the goal? Is that the feeling they want to ground us into so that we are right there along for the ride with him? And even if that was the point, I'm being quite generous in that, I think. Even if that was the point, it still didn't land. This movie had all the makings of something that should have been great. It has two fantastic leads, and it's still a hack for me, dog. And I think for the first time in Hackerslash history, there's two slashes and they're Mac and Ryan. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

I love it.

SPEAKER_05 36:37

Every once in a while it'll happen. And with that, Bubba Hotep from 2002 has earned three hacks and two slashes. Now you can find this movie streaming online for free, so go check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can shake this up together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

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SPEAKER_05 37:35

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Bubba Hotep, which has earned three hacks and two slashes. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

So there's not a lot of deaths in the film and even less actual kills. I think the total deaths in the film is six. This has to be one of the worst antagonists in horror history. I mean, the whole premise is to prey on the weak souls of the elderly, and even then we only see what, like one or two actually kill uh actual kills from this dude. I mean, most of these fuckers died from old age or heart attacks. This this this is l this has to be one of the most inefficient killers of all time.

SPEAKER_05 38:21

Yeah. Bubba Hotep was for sure as geriatric as his victims. Man was only getting what one a night? You're walking that slow? You could have sucked so many souls more. Were you moving like 10% faster?

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Well, he was draining them, I thought, you know, like he was slowly getting a little bit of energy, like a little bit at a time through the butthole, you know? He was just like he would get a sip. He wouldn't completely drain him first.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

I need to just say how disappointed I am that we never saw a soul get sucked out of a butthole. Like, if you're gonna send me that visual and talk about it, like why aren't we why didn't I get to see that? Like uh buck her up. Mouth to butt? Yeah, he had a butthole mouth.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Missed opportunity. Missed opportunity.

SPEAKER_08 39:05

That's what I'm talking about. I truly think so. I couldn't agree more, Ryan. I'm like, fully send it, man. I want human centipede at this point. Just like send it. How are you gonna tell me that souls are coming out of the asshole and not gonna give me asshole?

SPEAKER_04 39:17

Yeah, like when he says, when Kennedy says he was on my butt, I'm like, I need to see him kill somebody and just be mouth to butt. Like, cause it's that would be hilarious, okay? That would be a hysterical visual.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

That would put him too close to those demons, you know, the succubus. Because at that point he would just be a succubus.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_05 39:36

Let the record show I did not want any butt action. You know, some people aren't into butt play, but they don't know what they're missing.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Okay, so let me talk about one of the actual kills or deaths then to keep us to get us back on track. And it's actually one of the kills that's not done, of course. It's it's one of the natural uh causes here. So uh it's chimosabe. This was my favorite kill. If it's if it's I guess it's a kill from shock, right? Like he causes a heart attack. That kind of counts. But he comes like like wandering out in his cowboy getup, shooting off his guns, just yelling, asshole, asshole, asshole. And for a moment I was watching this thinking like, is he screaming that he was that like the the mummy was trying to get him that way, or was he screaming like that mummy is an asshole? I I couldn't I couldn't decide.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

But that's just it. Now we know why he was yelling asshole the whole time, because this thing is coming after your fucking asshole. And not in a way that you want. Yeah, definitely not in the way you want.

SPEAKER_05 40:34

Okay, you know what? He actually has like MVP level categories for me because that man and his little western pistols and his little bandit mask, you know, I saw a lot of myself in him uh in back in back in the day when I was Zorro a few years. Granted, Zoro didn't have guns, Zoro had swords and a whip, but uh I thought he was just charming. And I thought, you know what, if that were my grandfather, I'd be there to see him every day. Of course, of course you did.

SPEAKER_04 41:02

I I did think he was charming, but his kill was definitely not my favorite. I'm gonna go with a really corny one because the kills in this movie do kind of suck. I'm gonna go with Elvis's roasting of the beetle. Does that count? Can I count that? I feel like that was one of the more interesting kill sequences of the whole movie.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

There's space for it. We could talk about it. We could talk about it.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

This man stabbed and roasted an obscenely fake, I don't know, roach, beetle. They said roach, but it did not look like a roach to me. Yeah, it's a scarab beetle.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

They kept saying cockroach, but it's clearly a fucking beetle.

SPEAKER_04 41:35

No.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

That's part of the gag.

SPEAKER_04 41:37

Right, right. And on that note, I was a fan of how obnoxiously fake it was. I feel like I support that vision in this type of movie, which I I think I wouldn't normally agree with. But in this instance, I get it and it worked. But for me, honestly, the kills in this movie are a little bit bland and definitely missing, and I wish that they were better. But I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_08 41:59

And actually, speaking of that a little bit, I would say that my favorite kill, which is hard for me to pick because I agree, they're kind of lackluster all around. But I would say my favorite one was the old woman from the beginning because of the beetle, because that 100% would be me. If there was a flying anything around my house or my room, it's on sight on the perspective of the bug because I'm dead and the bug is still alive.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Yo, she was way too calm in bed with that thing coming up into the sheets from her feet. Way too calm. Like if that happened in my bed, my sheets are flying six feet in the air. I'm doing a backflip off of the bed, grabbing a baseball bat in the same movement and ready to swing.

SPEAKER_08 42:41

Or I'm leaving the house.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

This is just the way we've talked about it before. That's how cockroaches work in the South. You have a nice, warm, cozy house, and that's what they want. They want to be nice and warm and cozy. I I think that kill, you know, I think that gets credit because those scarab beetles were kind of sentient, you know? They really seemed like they had a good sense of humor. They were also there for nefarious purposes. So I I I think you get full credit. And honestly, that should be a hundred percent like the splash page for this movie. Is him roasting that beetle, it should have been like ba-boom, bubble ho tap.

SPEAKER_04 43:13

True.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

It shouldn't have happened until that moment. That should be like the intro, you know?

SPEAKER_04 43:18

That would have had the right magnitude.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Like we talk about the so in the in the scene you're talking about, Binx in the beginning, that first kill or whatever with the elderly woman and the beetle on the bed, right? And then the you know, she's trying to smash the beetle and the beetle stands up, and you see like the I don't know, like the um The toilet. I don't even know what camera angle behind the whatever. And but no, like the the the little head like sticks out of it, like comes out of it. Has anyone seen From Beyond? I don't know. Has anyone seen that film? Okay. If we ever watch that film on this show, uh that'll be an interesting episode. But there's literally this like thing, this other like uh another head of yours. Tiny that comes out like an antenna or a feeler out of the top of your head and like sucks brains out of people. Like that's what that reminded me of. It was such a weird, a weird scene.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

That doesn't sound like fun at all. That sounds so creepy.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

It's bizarre. It's bizarre.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

There's not a ton of kills like you've mentioned, and the ones we get are are oftentimes just deaths. But one of the best parts of the movie was Jack and Jack fading away, you know, crossing to the other side. I think was one of the best deaths of the movie because like we learn, of course, that if your soul gets sucked out of you, that it just gets destroyed and then pooped out versus being able to go to some other location. So I like the fact that Jack goes, and it kind of felt inevitable for a while to me. It kind of felt like Jack's not going to make it till the end. Um, but Jack goes on Jack's terms, which I think was like a good way to wrap things up. If you're gonna get rid of one or both of our main characters, let it seem like worth it at least in the end. And to be there like laying on the on the floor or laying on the ground, and like, you know, Elvis has the has the wheelchair and he's gonna finish the job that that Jack helped out with, it just felt like a really cathartic moment for the two of them.

SPEAKER_05 45:15

I can agree with cathartic, but you know what? For me, that was 52% of the reason I was semi-invested in this movie, gone from the movie. You know, was it a bad moment overall? Like, I agree with your justification, Matt, completely, but Jack was such a bright spot for me. And I think it's just a but it was just a bummer to see him go. Obviously, I I think it makes sense. I don't I can't imagine this movie and Jack surviving. You know what I mean? I think there's like some emotional weight there, but I was so bummed to see him go.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

I mean, he definitely was like we've said, their banter was one of the more enjoyable parts of the movie, but like I felt like it was close enough to the end, like he had to go. You knew somebody was gonna die, like that's just how it went. And that is probably part of why I like didn't really care about the ending, because once he was gone, it did completely change like the magic of the movie. And you know, something that I will argue was not very magical in this movie was a lot of the visuals. I you know, I I don't know how much there really is to be like, oh, this was incredible, but I have a couple little things that I liked. I really enjoyed Elvis as old Elvis being disgusting, like in like his face wrinkles and stuff, just being like over the top, worn out. But also like young Elvis or like, you know, quote unquote real Elvis, like when they're doing the switchadoo. I thought it was I thought it was just interesting seeing like the slight changes in like the makeup and everything. And something else that was really small that I enjoyed is when they would show something that Elvis was looking at when he had his glasses on, it would be like yellow tinted, like it specifically happened like at the bridge and stuff. And it's just so funny to me that people just walk around, like especially back in the day, people just walk around in like yellow glasses. Like, bro, you don't see white at all. You just see yellow. Like, why are you doing that?

SPEAKER_05 47:05

Everything is a warm temperature, nothing's daylight, nothing's daylight.

SPEAKER_04 47:10

No, everything's very warm. I just thought, you know, it was just an oddly like specific touch that they chose to give to this movie, which I feel like was not really based in a lot of like necessary details, you know. Like, I they didn't have to do that. And did they do it more than one time? I don't even know. But I noticed it the one time, like, all right, I guess I liked it.

SPEAKER_05 47:31

It begs the question uh, what temperature are your glasses rated in Kelvin? And like that, that's that's something I'm gonna now wonder moving forward. So I think for me, Ryan, I'm actually on the opposite side of things. I detested old Elvis. Now, granted, quality of of makeup, exactly top-notch, right? The craftsmanship there, I can I can appreciate it. I did not like disgusting old man Elvis. I like Bruce Campbell's performance, but is it was not something that I enjoyed looking at. Like the weathering and the texture of his face, I wasn't a fan of, but I loved his glasses. I loved the the the shell of what Elvis used to be, and I loved the flashback to middle-age Elvis before the retirement home.

SPEAKER_08 48:13

I think that was the point though. Like you weren't supposed to find him attractive or like, you know, like he wasn't supposed to be Elvis so good looking at that age either. Yeah. I think we've established that this movie is supposed to make you feel gross from the faces to the dialogue. You know, I just think that that was the point. He was supposed to be weathered. It was supposed to make you feel like, ooh, yikes, in a way. And I think they did that pretty well.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

That's why I enjoyed it. Yeah, because it was over the top weathering. Like them eyebrow wrinkles. I was like, all right, no one's ever froze their brow that hard, ever.

SPEAKER_08 48:46

He was bored, he was bored as Karloff the mummy. And then there was but there was there you go.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

He did have some good costumes though. When he got like fully suited up at the end, he was looking smart as Elvis. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

Oh, yeah. But when you talk about him looking like a mummy, right? I I'm gonna go ahead and say it as if I'm gonna pick a favorite visual element from this film, I'm gonna go off the walls and just say that when we look at the mummy itself, Bubba Hotep, if you will, it was just so over the top, terribly funny. He looked like an undead fucking Clint Eastwood or some shit. Uh it it it was it it it just it just made me laugh every time. And so, because of that, that's gotta be my favorite visual from the film. It was just too over the top. It was terrible, but it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 49:38

Where do they keep the souls around here?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

My my favorite visual element is unrelated to costumes, and it is a really weird one to like. But when Elvis is in bed, medicated, and just like going through it, and time is passing by, we kind of speed through people walking in, people walking out, things happening, the fan going on, the fan going off. That whole segment is it's one almost kind of dizzying, but two, it felt the most like true to life. If you've ever been heavily medicated laying in a hospital bed, you're kind of living your life through the memory of what's happened and not kind of in the active moment. And so I actually really kind of like liked those segments. We had a lot of them, but like as as an as a concept, I enjoyed it because I felt like this is kind of like the experience you actually get when you're there. It seems like things are just like flipping really, really fast right past you, and you have no active participation.

SPEAKER_05 50:34

Does your interpretation of the scene in the moment lend a little bit more credibility to it? Yes. Did I absolutely hate it? 100 fucking percent. Because that moment, especially with it being so early on, all it gave me uh that I couldn't really see past was just the early 2000s jump cuts and the quickness of things that like you know, Mac, I I know that when you talk about like dizziness, how dizzying that can be, and we talk about like found footage for you and the effect that that has on you. It's not the same like physical impact for me, but it does get under my fucking skin. And I can appreciate it now in retrospect based on your assessment of it, but it is still something that I felt had we not started with that and the pussy joke, I would have been fine for a while.

SPEAKER_04 51:25

Okay, but did you not think they were overdoing the like cutting back and forth and like they did several times like the very quick cutscenes and stuff that to me it was clear that they were kind of like making fun, like that was in my eyes, that was like a campy bit. Half the time he did like a flashback, it didn't even flash back to like anything except like the last thing we saw. Like it wasn't even like a real flashback. And I don't know. I guess when he looked locked eyes with the mummy, he like caught that uh you know, that Haddenfield transfer, you know, like they like they did in Halloween's, but otherwise, like he just kept flashbacking to nothing. And I was like, Oh, they're making fun of flashbacks. Like, I don't know, it was obvious to me. I thought that's what they were doing.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

I just love the fact that you're going out on such a strong note when it comes to camp. I feel like we've accomplished something here. You one, you love the campy beetle. That's amazing. Two, yeah, you like appreciate the fact that this film is kind of meta in in its ways, whether or not they did it on purpose, it ends up kind of being meta. And yeah, this is just character growth. This is your your your arc right here.

SPEAKER_04 52:27

The movie is about an Elvis impersonator impersonating an Elvis impersonator. Like, I how could you take that seriously? As soon as I figured that out, I was like, okay, cool. We're in here. Progress.

SPEAKER_01 52:42

Ryan, you've you've mentioned the flashback thing, and I gotta bring this up because my absolute favorite part of this movie in terms of the scenes, it's more than one, but the flashback to Elvis trading places when he was middle-aged, I think is the best movie within this movie here. Uh honestly, this could have been a whole other TV show not related to a mummy in any way, and I found it to be actually really entertaining and and humorous in many cases as well. Uh, but Bruce Campbell as a as a middle-aged Elvis just like worked so much better than Bruce Campbell as an old Elvis and was just more like interesting to watch.

SPEAKER_05 53:15

I 100% agree with that. That was actually my favorite scene as well. I think I'll give a runner-up special honorable mention to the moment where he's has the TV on in his room and they're playing Elvis movies, but obviously it's all stock footage and you never see Elvis' face. But I thought they did a serviceable job finding footage that's somewhat appropriate for some of his movies. That's a little bit of rust about in there.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

And he said they all sucked, which is hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 53:42

Yeah. Honestly, the plight of Elvis Presley's movies. I mean, think about he was in more movies in a very short span of time than most actors are in their careers. It's fucking insane. Um, I wasn't a huge fan of the most recent Elvis movie that just came out, but again, I'll put a link in the show notes to some of the ones that you can find online for free. Some of them, some of them hit in a charming way.

SPEAKER_03 54:05

My favorite scene or scenes rather were when we see the corners or whatever after each person died in the nursing home. They always had some good humorous dialogue, right? And my favorite one, though, was after Kemosabi died, and they're carrying him out of the home, then they trip and fall, dropping him into the bushes. Um, you know, something like this has happened in real life somewhere at some time. Something like this has happened, and that just makes it even better.

SPEAKER_08 54:35

You took my favorite scene. I died laughing. That was the moment that I was like, oh, this is hilarious. If I could have a movie about the two of them, I would 100% take it. With Daniel Roebuck, absolutely yes. 100%.

SPEAKER_04 54:50

I think you guys have definitely hit like the the better scenes for me. I agree with you, Mac. Like, I think the whole flashback bit was a probably the better part of the whole movie and probably part of why I enjoyed it as much as I did. Because I think if that wasn't there, there wouldn't be enough with the mummy for me to care about, I think. And also, like, I don't know, there's a weird part in this movie where you're like, Am I watching two separate movies? Like, is this about an Elvis impersonator or is this about a mummy attacking uh old folks' home? Like, am I getting both? Because both there were a lot of times where both weren't really happening at the same time. It was really just one or the other.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

I am curious what what you guys think. So, do we think Jack is actually JFK in this in this universe?

SPEAKER_04 55:33

No, I think it's clear they're both a little delusional.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

You don't you don't think that this is actually El in this universe, of course. You don't think this is actually Elvis?

SPEAKER_05 55:41

So I think from the little bit of of reading that I did to understand the writer's direction, was that this is an alternate history in which he swapped bodies and didn't actually die. So I think I went into this. Okay, Joe, if you want me to sit here and think that this is actually Elvis, I'll I'll buy into that. I don't obviously think that that's John F. Kennedy, uh, but I do think that was um a hilarious bit to kind of lean into like this movie's reality wants me to believe this is Elvis. Let's go with that.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

For me, I felt like there was never anything that happened that was evidence that he was actually Elvis, and I kept kind of waiting for that and thinking that that would show up, and to me it didn't. So, in in my mind, this is just two delusional, hilarious old dudes.

SPEAKER_03 56:27

Yeah, I mean it's tough to say. I do agree. I think the movie wants you to believe that this is Elvis. Um, but I also feel like the movie is hinting at uh people losing their minds in you know retirement homes or nursing homes, and there's also kind of like a dark humor to that as well. Um, so overall, kind of leaning towards the latter there and just saying that this is maybe just the horror of a nursing home.

SPEAKER_05 56:53

Yeah, I think it'd be more horrific if it really is Elvis and to think about how he is constantly told, no, you're Sebastian. And you know, like what if your situation really is just that out there and you have the grasp and and strong mind to know what your truth is, and everyone around you is just assuming you're a senile old person and you couldn't possibly know. You're getting a little loopy. That feels more horrific if he actually is Elvis.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

I like I like the idea that you can have both interpretations in your head at one time while watching the movie because it's kind of fun because the entire time you're like, I don't know whether or not in this universe, if this is actually Elvis who did the body swap, but I'll I'll buy into it for the sake of the story. But at the same time, it's obviously not Elvis actually died. And so the same thing with with Jack's characters, like obviously it's not JFK, but at the same time, if I allow this character to be JFK, who is somehow here, um, it also like works for like the entertainment value. But I I think you're right, like you know, it doesn't honestly doesn't really matter. I think at the same like at the same time, like, yeah, we can think about it, but like the characters themselves are still really interesting and really fun and sometimes really funny, and they worked really well together. I think Kimo Sabe existing, having that style was part of the quirkiness that I loved about the characters in this movie. I think the nurse was so close. The nurse was like pretty fun, you know, pretty, pretty like, but a little spicy. I like the spiciness, a little bit um of a stereotype in many, any many ways, so that can be a little bit bothersome there. Um the one character I like just like didn't have any sort of care about there was was Callie. It really seemed like Callie was like tacked on, did not have enough to really like define her as a quirky character.

SPEAKER_04 58:43

Yeah, I generally agree. I think the nurse didn't quite hit it for me, and also like I didn't like when Elvis would just randomly like snap on her, like very aggressively. I didn't I didn't feel like that was necessary. I feel like they could have had a slightly more like charm in their relationship than what they had. I of course, like, yeah, uh Jack and Jack and Elvis, those are the stars of the show. We love the first drivers. I think, yeah, the blonde chick showing her butt on camera. I don't know why she didn't need to be there. Uh I don't know. This movie is one where you kind of need a couple quirky people, and we had that, and there's a couple weak spots, but I think we had enough strong spots that it was overall worth it. And like, yeah, Elvis said some like ridiculous stuff about like pus on his, you know, phalanges. He said a little too much about some phallic pus, but other than that, he wasn't like an absurdly obnoxious, disgusting person, which is what I would have never enjoyed. So I don't know. It worked for me.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

I think you bring up something good though. I think the charm was missing for Elvis in those moments with the nurse. I think instead of blowing up on her and being a jerk to her or whatever or feeling insecure, I think a better like form of that character would have had him charming her. And not like actually charming her, but trying to charm her and her playing along with that because that happens. That's what old people do. They make passes at their nurse, knowing that nothing's going to happen because that's just like who they are and and how they are. And the nurse, like in many cases, plays along, as long as they don't do anything absolutely ridiculous and and and offensive. There's like that always that little like back and forth banter where it's like keeping their spirit alive with the joke. And so I wish I wish they'd gone that direction versus him like blowing up and cursing her out.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:27

Thanks. I hate it. I hate the idea of old forty-ness predatory, I guess a person who's just doing their job. I hate that so much.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:35

Well, it just seems like with the jokes and the banter about, you know, some his appendage, I would have expected that he would be flirtatious with his nurse, but instead it's just like because that's the kind of the stereotype that we kind of imagine with, you know, older, older folk and especially men, right? But we didn't get that, it was kind of the opposite. And instead, we get like this awkward, like ill moment with Callie, who's like an unnecessary character in and of itself, just to show that he's a little like gross. We have that versus you know, flirty banter or whatever with the nurse who we see consistently throughout the film. So I thought that was kind of an interesting choice. But um, really quick, I wanted to bring up something. I know we talk about Jack Plenty, but I I had a runner-up for a favorite scene, and one of the things that I enjoyed a lot about his character towards the end was his Professor X motor ass vehicle. That was sending me so much. I was laughing my ass off when he you it's just it that's the the the nonverbal but physical acting that I love in that humor where it's just him, you know, hitting that terrain and it's loud as hell. Oh my gosh, I just loved it so much. I thought that was hilarious. And I think it was great to see. Obviously, he's a funny character, but also just funny overall when he's not even speaking. So props to him.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

I was thinking about that when you get to the towards the end of the movie and they like have their scheme they're setting up and they are moving so freaking slow, and it's like hard to watch at points because you're like, oh, they're never gonna make it. But it's like that's that's kind of reality though. Like, that's what happens, and that also tends to make it a little funnier for me, you know. I don't think I thought about it the first time I watched it, but I'm watching it this time, like very aware of how slow they're going and the fact that Elvis has a messed up hip, and yet he's like on the walker trying to make it across the lawn, and it kind of just like added, it really added to it. When he got that chair, that chair for him was like freedom, it was mobility, and he was able to move and get a little speed going on. And I don't know, I I really did enjoy that that aspect of like having that provide that speed that they need to defeat the uh the mummy, not the need for speed, Mac.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:44

It is it is indeed the need for speed, the fast and the furious in East Texas, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

It's all about family.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:52

Okay, so I'm hearing a lot about how unnecessary the my girl Callie is, and I gotta I gotta disagree because here's the thing I 100% feel that the oversexualization of her character and him, you know, lamenting about how she couldn't even possibly perceive him as a threat, so she was okay with bending over that way. I hated all that. But what her character and what that moment serves to do is really look into the emotional horror of being in that kind of assisted living situation where you think about who this man was. Think about the legacy that he had, and now his legacy is just thrown away in a bin. Think about the fact that she even acknowledges that she did the best she could. They didn't have a terrible relationship, and he was left to die coughing, hacking away in a bed next to Elvis, or in his mind, an Elvis impersonator. To go from the glory of your former life to bring new life into the world to for all those all those sacrifices and think about everything that you go through, and then one day you can just wind up in this bed and you can pass away, and no one really gives a shit. That was fucking emotionally devastating. And I think in in in in particular with her character and her coming into this moment, it wasn't even that she again like had a terrible relationship with him, it was just the complexity of like people get busy and sometimes people struggle with things, and sometimes people are too focused on their struggle that they miss out on the reality of the limited time that they have left with someone. And I think a hundred percent the emotional levity that the emotional punch that that moment gave me was the best part of this movie. Again, there's Chris Rojas falling in love with potential, trying to make some shit deep about it, whatever. But that was it for me. Had we gotten a few more things like that in the movie, it would have been way better.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:56

I think that's so funny that you connected with that moment so much because I feel like that is exactly what Elvis was trying to say the whole time. Is like he was just doing it in a lewd way. He was just saying, like, I am just here. Like, she didn't have to come in for him to show that he was there and he was not cared about, and nobody believed who he was, and like his life wasn't particularly valued in that place. Like, everyone was just there to die. That's exactly what he was doing. He was just making lewd jokes about it, which to be fair, is how I'll be doing it when I'm 90.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:31

Okay, sure. She didn't need to come in to show that he wasn't cared for, but it was the fact that she came in and she, as his daughter, was still so easily throwing away his legacy. Literally putting in the fucking trash can. So this stranger has to say, Hey, he was pretty proud of that. Do you mind if I hold on to it? The disconnect there from father to daughter and thinking about the kind of things like you know, I I think about. The stuff that I have, and I think about who's gonna care about the things I did? Uh, is anybody gonna care? Or when I die, is all my shit gonna just get easily tossed into a dumpster and we're gonna move on with our lives? And not that that like I guess really matters, right? I think it's like you kind of get caught up in like your whole ego or whatever. You think about like what is the legacy that I'm leaving behind? Is it how I make people feel? Is it about memories, or is it about possessions or like tokens, whatever? None of that shit really matters. But I think you know, when I've considered like some of the medals that I earned in the military or like some bits of my uniforms, and I'm like, what am I holding on to this for? I'm holding on to it so that maybe one day, if I have kids, they might care. And if they don't care, then I'll just get rid of it myself before I'm 90 years old dying, and then they just dump that shit right out. You know what I mean? It's just a fucked up situation.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

That's what Elvis was trying to say the whole time.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:53

Yeah, but I felt it with her and him. I didn't need Elvis in his lew jokes to hear that. Like I got that in the first five minutes, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

So maybe maybe our complaint is not necessarily with her character, because 100% agreed. Like it's it's showing a real life issue there. I I think the issue we have is with the treatment of the character, and so that's a filmmaker issue because like lending that character to the lewdness and making Elvish just more crass and objectify her, like that to me played into the worst part of the movie was having this incredibly disgusting, crass old Elvis, because the moments where he's not like that are equally as funny. Like he has some great moments with Jack where they make some great jokes, they can even have jokes about being old or being broken or whatever that work really well that aren't about dicks and aren't about you know wishing that one is able to have sex, right? And so I think the worst part for me is like assuming that those are the jokes that we need to make this movie work. And we really we really didn't. It actually worked better when we didn't have all that. Like, yes, old men tend to make jokes like that, so throw some of those in. It's part of it, obviously. Uh, but there was a like a heavy focus on it, I think, and that's that's what kind of ruins it because when you're looking at it with eyes in your 30s and your 40s, 20 years after the movie released, you're kind of like, all right, like you made the joke, you know, you had the thing, like move on past the thing, make another thing at this point. But oh no, we're talking about a dick pimple one more time.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:22

I I think the idea that oh men are gonna make old perverted sex jokes, it's giving boys will be boys, and I fucking hate that. And I think that's that's where it really loses me.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:32

And and I think where I'm coming from is a place of basing it on historical um anecdotes and uh experience and not necessarily on how things uh should be or will be in the future. Because I I honestly doubt that the old men 50 years from now are gonna be like the old men from 50 years ago. I don't think that's necessarily how it's gonna be, because we're you know, we're more up to date these days, hopefully. Hopefully, goodness. Um But I think like back in 2002, this they were aiming for something that was like five percent of a person and just making that 90% of a person. And that's and that's where they that's where they missed out, is they didn't really give us all the facets of the character.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:11

Well, dang, you uh you you all definitely really went deep and got some stuff out of this film that uh that I that I wasn't uh that I wasn't even on that play on that playing field. Um I didn't get uh all of the uh what am I gonna be remembered for, this sad reality that I'm living in. The best part of this film for me was watching this on the couch, my wife sitting next to me. It goes to the flashback scene of ancient Egypt, and there's a shot of the topless Egyptian women, and all of a sudden, my wife yells out, titties! Best part of the fucking movie. I mean dying.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:52

And that's how we know your wife would also be great friends with Ryan. Do we need your wife to occasionally make a guest appearance to do the spontaneous boob tier list?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:01

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:02

It's not wrong. It was definitely one of the better parts of the movies because we really didn't get any titties, you know. I have a similar but different approach to that, which is uh the worst part for me, which was also Egypt related, was when the mummy got on screen, and then there were hieroglyphic captions, and he was talking, and it was just like shapes on screen, and then it got translated, and like the shapes were nonsensical, and I was like, Yeah, this is dumb, bro. Like in the ending, when that happened, I was like, mmm, I'm good on this. I really didn't care about the mummy at all, but now I really don't care about him. I was not interested in uh hieroglyphics being translated into this nonsense on screen in front of me with like I don't know, animation from Windows PowerPoint.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:52

You know what this reminded me of, though? In the mummy episode, and Ryan, you weren't here for this, Binks raised a great question of like the bastardization of mummy movies and how have we really just disrespected ancient rituals and and burial proceedings for this culture. And it's a it's a real like sharp left turn uh from the mummy that we were in. And you know, I found myself thinking like, okay, what what are all the movies about mummy movies that have been super offensive? And I can like realistically understand and see that, and then now for one week later for us to have this, I'm like, fuck yeah, I get it. This is exactly what I was, yep.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:31

This is it, this is exactly it. And it's like, um, why, you know? I don't know. I it's like this one's not being serious. Well, right. I'm again it's um not necessarily great, but they could definitely make it a lot worse. But it's the little things, and it's the PowerPoint of the hieroglyphics, and like come on, guys, but whatever, you know. Look, um, I gotta agree with Sean. I think it was almost impossible for me to look deep into this movie. So um I gotta hit it with a very surface level best part if I have to. I guess I really did enjoy Elvis' inner monologue, and this goes back to what we've kind of discussed in previously, where it's like we get a movie within a movie to some extent. So um I did buy into like Elvis' inner dialogue, the whole premise of of you know him being about his soul and like what like you're saying, Chris, what he's gonna what is he going to be remembered by? Um, all of these things I did kind of in, you know, I was listening, I bought into it. Um, but I mean that was the other movie, right? That wasn't the main one. So there's that.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:42

Listen, I can understand uh you and John both kind of going for the real surface level there, and I love that. I think the emotional pulls that I got from that moment with Callie and throwing away Elvis' roommate shit. Um, I think that is about as deep as I can possibly get in this movie, and it tells me that there's nothing left to go back to. I'm not dipping back into this, I'm not revisiting it, I'm not re-watching it. If I want to see Elvis again, I'll watch any number of Elvis movies. If I want to see a mummy movie again, I'll watch any any version of the mummy that's not this. I think I'm good on the appropriation of Imatep in East Texas. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:27

I mean, I don't know why any of us would go back and watch this again. I mean, I guess Max seen it twice, but I yeah, this is not one you need to see more than one time, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

I'll agree. You know, I I watched it on DVD way back in the day, or VHS, or whatever it was that I used to watch this. I'm not against the idea of a rewatch, uh, but I think, you know, it's been uh like two decades since the last one, and I think that's probably the minimum. So who knows what will happen in the future and what I'll look back you know on with nostalgia, but it's not it's not something I would actively go back and say, like, oh, I need to I need to watch that again. You know, I think I think like you've said, you've seen it, you've seen it. If it comes up, I'm not gonna probably turn it away necessarily, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna seek this out.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:10

What will you be remembered for? Not this fucking movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:13

Definitely not. You know, I I too have seen this movie twice now. Granted, I don't remember the first time at all. Um, but you know, I think I'm good. I think I'm good. I don't think I'm going to re-watch this one. I don't think I can find a reason to re-watch this one. I can find plenty of other outlets to go and get my Bruce Campbell fix. It still wasn't as bad as the mean one, but it really wasn't that good. And I don't think I'll be able to justify a reason to ever really watch this again, but you never know.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:44

We just need to be clear for a second. This is nowhere near as bad as the mean one. Not even like in this they're not on the same planet.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:51

That's what I said. It wasn't as bad.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:52

No, I have to agree. Not the same universe, galaxy. Yeah, I well, I think uh to make it unanimous, yeah. I don't I don't know why I would re-watch this movie, and I certainly wouldn't like to. Um you know, if I if I guess if I had to, it would be because I'm watching it with my older brother, right? Because this is this is his vibe, or at least I would imagine it would be. It's catered to him and and whatnot. So if I had to sit down and watch it, it would be with him because at least I can see him enjoying it or laughing or finding it ridiculous, but in a good way, whereas I'm like, ugh, you know, when's it over?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:30

Well, since we're not gonna be revisiting this at any time soon, let's see what else Matt can pack in for us with fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:36

Number one, Bruce Campbell almost exited the film pre-production when the director insisted on including a scene with a prop penis showing the infamous pus-filled bump.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:45

Oh, let's go fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:47

I'm gonna go fiction. I think he would be all for the stupid gag.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:51

Yeah, also fiction. I mean, I feel I wanna I wanna believe that he would wanna stick to the bit. Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:59

Well, this one's a fiction. Um, but before agreeing to play the king, his only question to the director was, are you gonna show the penis?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:08

So we have to assume when he got the no, he was like, cool, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:11

Okay, alright.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

Number two, Bruce Campbell had to actually use the on-screen bedpan to tinkle in real life during production.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:18

Again, I feel like probably a fact.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:20

Why not? Yeah, you know, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I mean, it's practical, it's what it's there for. Just go for it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:27

I'm gonna go I'm gonna go against the grain from you two and say that there is absolutely no reason that he had to use that thing. He didn't have enough makeup and stuff on, or costume, or whatever the hell that he couldn't get his ass out of bed and go to the restroom. I'm going fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:43

This one is a fact. Uh so you know, you have all that gear to shoot him while he's laying in bed, kind of imprisoned. Uh, and sometimes you gotta go and you can't really take the time to move all that stuff out of the way and let you go potty, so you just go potty in a bedpan.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:57

Get out of here.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:58

I'm telling you. Practicality. Yeah, I feel like it would just be s for fun. And also, like, men can do stuff like that very easily from an anatomical perspective. So, like, I know men, y'all would just be like, Oh, I just want to see what it's like to pee in a pan, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:15

I'm not about it. There's no way.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:17

I'm I'm not I'm not pissing at anything that doesn't deserve to be pissed at, let's just say that, because that's that would make me very that would make me very uncomfortable. You know, if I'm if I'm shooting a movie and there's a bedpan, I'm gonna be like, let me out of this, I have to go to the bathroom. I mean, me, first of all, I'm just gonna hold it for way too long. But then eventually, if I give in, it's like, take take it off, take, take all the stuff out of here, I gotta go potty.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:40

Technically, that's its function.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:41

Number three, if you listen carefully, you can hear seven seconds of an Elvis Presley song towards the middle of the movie. All the filmmakers could afford to license.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:50

Uh I'll go fiction because I don't recall.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:52

Fiction because I feel like s even seven seconds of a Elvis Presley song is heavy money. And I doubt that they have that.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:02

Yeah, I I I didn't catch that at all, but I don't it I just don't even know how it would make sense to have the rights for seven seconds of a song. It just uh, I'm gonna go fiction as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:11

This isn't indeed a fiction. There's no Elvis music in this film. Even licensing one of his songs would have cost them half of their half million dollar budget.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:20

Sheesh. I was about to say their whole budget, but number four.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:24

Harrison Young, who played Elvis' veteran roommate, also played the elder version of the titular character in 1998's Saving Private Ryan.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:32

False, you just wanted to say titular.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:36

I truly don't know. I don't know. I didn't pay that close of attention to that person, so um, I'll just go out in a limb and say fact, why not?

SPEAKER_08 1:18:45

You know, I I'm gonna say fact as well, just for the sake of, you know, maybe that would be a cool bit of the movie, especially since he was like at the very beginning interacting with him. They were roommates. I don't know. Why not?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:57

This is indeed a fact, and you have to wonder how well Private Ryan was actually saved if he ended up here. Number five. Aussie Davis, having been born in nineteen nineteen, was a little too young to have portrayed JFK age accurately, by about two years. Give or take.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:14

Two years.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:15

Fiction.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:16

Yeah, two years just because of two years? I don't know, fiction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:20

This one is indeed a fiction. They were both born the same year in 1917.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:25

Good lord. Fair enough. That was a rough set of factor fiction you were searching for, huh? We got that one.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:31

Did I get every single one right again? Run the tape. Oh no. Why why does this keep happening to me?

SPEAKER_06 1:19:39

Back to back?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:40

I don't know how I get the majority of these right and then fail at anything that has to do with Boris Karloff.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:45

But that's the thing. I'm like back to back. I got factor fiction correct. Five out of five. Back to back? Get out of here. I'm a fire.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:53

Yeah, you famously on the record said, one day I'll best you, and then you've been besting him ever since. I'm so sorry, Mac. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:02

And that's been factor fiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:04

Well, there you have it, folks. Bubba Hotep has earned two slashes and three hacks. Now we've certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means. Maybe some of you out there also like this movie. Maybe some of you don't, but we want to know what you think.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:19

You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:25

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:39

And remember, ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:45

Gotta hump it.